american. it defines our responsibility as citizens that president obama talked about. we may not be in douglass' old party, but we're in the spirit of douglass when we stand for voter rights. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. thank you, charlotte. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews back in washington. let me start tonight with this impressive week in charlotte. there may be no explanation for it, but i've never seen such excitement in a political convention. it was in the faces of the people who stood at the edge of our stage, the loud roars when one of us said something about president obama, their deep concentration watching him.

on our big screen as he spoke last night. i don't know what this means for november. we're going to get serious economic reports between now and then and we'll know if the economy's slowing down or beginning to perk. the news we got this morning wasn't satisfactory by anyone's standards. but the real question is how the voters look at this election. will they view it as a choice between two candidates or as an up or down referendum on president obama. a brutally tough standard by the way so soon after the financial crash of 2008 and '09. steven mensa is a strategist. president obama last night kept pushing the idea that this election is a choice among vote es rather than a referendum. we counted 20 times he uttered a variation of choose or choice, the very words themselves. take a look. >> when all is said and done, when you pick up that ballot to vote, you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. it will be a choice between two

different paths for america. i'm asking you to choose that future and now, you have a choice. if you choose this path. the choice you face -- you can choose a future -- choose -- choice -- choice -- choice -- choices -- choose -- choose. you can choose that future for america. >> well, that's pretty tough stuff. steve moore, for the, i guess you have a point of view on this. i want to ask you this fundamental question. is this going to be like a baseball team where the manager said that pitcher started the game, but he's got to get out of there or you have two people facing off saying well, pick me, the other says pick me and you've got to choose between them? >> i think it's a smart strategy by barack obama, especially given the employment report that came out today that was disappointing, but i have a kind of iron rule of politics. and i've been in politics for a long time as you have chris. they're almost always referendum on the performance of the

incumbent and that's the problem barack obama has is that a lot of americans have concluded this economy isn't growing. when he says the line this week among many democrats, this was the best any president would have done. wait a minute. it was barack obama himself who said we were going to have the unemployment rate down below 6% now and if in three or four years if i haven't fixed the economy, i won't have a second term. i'm judging him by his own standards here. >> today, the unemployment rate did tick down because only 96,000 jobs were added and more unemployed americans have stopped looking for work. this a tough situation. the wires today, this is the short, smallest labor force. that means people working or looking for a job in 30 years. we have shrunk the working portion of our country because of disappointment in the job

market. what's out there. >> there's no question the job report was not what they wanted. there are three numbers. the first is the raw number, which was lower than folks expected. lower than the white house wanted. there's the unemployment rate which did tick down a little bit. and there was another measure that people look at, the 401(k)s. if republicans want to talk about whether you're better off or not than four years ago, somebody who's about to retire is looking at that saying the president inherited a terrible situation. my 401(k) has nearly doubled in the last four years. he said in his speech things had gone more slowly and been more difficult than he imagined. he showed humility and i thought he did a wonderful job of con tect chul -- contextualizing it last night. it's a choice between what kind of future we want to have as a country. what kind of economy we want to have. whether it's an economy that works for everybody or just the few and privileged like mitt romney. i thought it was very effective.

>> what about that? the idea that and let's say this objectively. you're not just playing this back and forth. if you have a president come in and the dow jones is down about 65, it's dropped dramatically, lower than it was for a decade and all of a sudden, it doubles up to 13,000. that means people have 401(k) money. they've got any kind of savings in the equity markets. they're better off dramatically. in fact, twice as well off as they were and this is somebody ready to retie tire, 72 years old, checking the market every day. i have to tell you, this sounds like sarcasm, but if george w. had this situation, he'd kb doing those hot dog jumping up and down in the end zone and he wouldn't quit. >> i agree with both you and steve. i think this is the best statistic that barack obama has. the stock market actually has done pretty well under barack obama, so you're both right about that. the problem that i think -- >> how does wealth affect retirement? is wealth more important to retirement or the unemployment number?

if you retire, those people -- >> clearly, it's the wealth. in fact, if you look at the income statistics that came out last week, that were pretty lousy, the only age group that saw an increase in their income were senior citizens, who are not in the workforce but they get they are income from the benefits of government and such. but here's the problem with your guys' analysis though. it is true that there's a wealth effect in terms of higher stock market values. the housing market hasn't done much at all, but the bigger problem is when you look at the wage issue, steve. and that's where i think obama has a steep decline. wages are down 4,000 for the average family. >> you're piling on. here's president obama speaking about the jobs numbers in new hampshire. >> today, we learned that after losing around 800,000 jobs a month, businesses once again added jobs for a 30th month in a row. a total of more than 4.6 million

jobs. but that's not good enough. we know it's not good enough. we need to create more jobs faster. we need to fill the hole left by this recession faster. we need to come out of this crisis stronger than when we went in and there's a lot more that we can do. >> i think you say the worst sin of the president is not he doesn't have the economy coming back like gang busters, but that he promised too much. the numbers he was using. i'll get it down to 6% in three years. i'll get it down to 8% in the first year. would any other president be able to do -- bill clinton doesn't think so. take this out of where it was and bring it back from the precipice, prevent a second depression and get people back working again? was anybody able to do better in three years?

>> reagan did. >> no, he didn't have a financial crisis. >> sure he did. >> you are playing games now. that was a monetary recession caused by volcker. it could easily be overturned. that was a vertical. that went down and quickly back up again. >> i disagree with you on that. the 1970s was the worst decade we had since the great depression in terms of income. but here's the point. reagan came in during a great economic crisis. read what people were saying in 1980. everyone thought we were on a decline, we would never recover. that the soviet union was going to overtake us. three years later after reagan put his program in place, the economy was booming. 6%, 8% growth. we had one month where the country created 1.1 million jobs. you can get out with the right policies. >> okay, okay. so steve you've been around politics for a long time. you know how people make these

decisions. and in presidential campaigns they make a decision based on whether they think things are getting better or worse. right now if you look at a 401(k) and housing market off the bottom, if you look at 30 straight months of jobs being created after 800,000 job losses at a time when obama came into office and you listen to his speech last night where he says i'm asking you to choose the harder path. i'm asking you to take the harder path. this is a president asking people to engage in sacrifice. the republicans respect asking if anybody to do that. they're saying the last free lunch in america is sitting right here. it's more tax cuts. and people who are thoughtful understand that that's more debt and more problems for our kids. >> steve -- let me ask both of you this question. >> sno. when you have a show you can ask both questions. >> tell me what barack obama's

program is then. you guys keep saying he has a program for the future. i don't know what that is. he didn't talk about what he wants to do than more stimulus spending. >> he talked about increasing exports, new manufacturing jobs, talked about slowing the growth, he talked about a society where people -- where we support he didn't talk about leaving people out there on their own unable to make ends meet and e vis rate the social net. he didn't talk about the things republicans want to do to create a society where everybody's on their own. he talked about a shared sacrifice society which used to be a noble thing in this country. it's something that republicans used to do. >> steve, i am not in favor of sacrifice. i'm in favor of growth. we don't need -- the only people who need to start sacrificing in this economy are the people in the government. >> you've done a good job today.

there's a reality this president inherited up to 2009. in 2009 we had an unemployment rate spiking well past 10%, a stock market sinking with no floor below it well below a ten-year low. we didn't know where we were headed then. we were headed the wrong way. when your crowd -- not that you're part of the party, but when your conservatives left us in this mess. left with a mess and told he didn't clean up fast enough by the people who left a mess. a lot of people can criticize this economy the way it is, but the ones least able to criticize it are the ones who left president obama with the mess. that's my view. we'll see how the voters look at this. all the polling shows that they know the president hurt. blame it on bush. what we're in right now. thank you, steve. please come back, mr. moore. you're a good salesman. you picked up. >> i had a great hand. coming up, conventional wisdom. which party had the better convention?

while the voting on this question is in, it's not a tossup. it's the democrats. this is a fact. also how the gop managed to fumble away their biggest advantage. the military, the troops. republicans didn't mention the people or the war in afghanistan. and democrats ran into the gaping hole and reminded people are not interested in the wars. ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow.

at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. well, president obama and the democrats are masters of the twitter do main. the president's speech set a record for the most tweets in a single minute for a political event b. 52,756 tweets. the twitterverse is democratic occupied territory, apparently. last night generated about 4 million tweets altogether. roughly equal to all three days of the republican convention. we'll be right back. we make a simple thing.

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welcome back to "hardball." there were so many differences between the two conventions we

just saw. one of the starkest was in the levels of enthusiasm. loud and boisterous down in charlotte. grim and rather businesslike in tampa. i could feel wherever i went. the first hint of trouble in tampa came when chris christie who delivered the rnc keynote told delegates they weren't being loud enough. >> i want to tell you something. i've been a little bit disappointed at the volume of noise on the floor of that convention. the last two nights. i've got to be honest with you. i've been a little disappointed in it. >> wow. the enthusiasm level was one of the many contrasts between the conventions. we'll take you through the others. another convention contrast is the party role given to past presidents. bill clinton owned and made this strongest case yet for obama's second term. let's listen in big bill.

>> if you want a winner take all, you're on your own society, you should support the republican ticket. but if you want to country of shared opportunity and shared responsibility, a we're all in this together society, you should vote for barack obama and joe biden. >> he was fantastic. president george w. bush was barely mentioned by anyone at the convention except briefly from his brother jeb saying to cut him a break. >> and my brother, well, i love my brother. he is a man of integrity, courage, and honor. and during incredibly challenging times, he kept us safe. so mr. president, it is time to

stop blaming your predecessor for your failed economic policies. >> well, i always like to remind people that he didn't keep us safe. september 11th 2001. >> there was that one time. >> it was after that he kept us safe. if a democrat had been president when we were hit on 9/11, the republican party would have had such vil nicie ing villainize. >> i think they decided down in tampa that for every minute that george w. bush was mentioned let alone seen, they were going to drop that percentage in the polls. i mean, as you mentioned earlier, americans understand that barack obama inherited a serious set of problems from

george w. bush. two wars that have cost up upwards of $2 trillion, $3 trillion, an economy that crashed and a gigantic debt that he had doubled while in office. this is what the president had to cope with at a time of terrible stress for the country. and i think people know that. they remember that. and republicans don't want to remind them. >> ron christie, it seems both parties want to remind us of bill clinton. but neither wants to remind us of w. democrats are even giving w. a break as a person. they only go after his record. your thoughts? >> my former boss george w. bush has exited the political stage. he said once i'm out of politics, that's it. the democrats can run around and say oh, they're trying to hide bush and he's trying to stay off the scene because he's so unpopular. but that was the president's decision. the fact of the matter, chris,

is that poor barack obama, oh obama inherited a mess. oh, obama, all the troubles he's had. this man has been in office for three and a half years. i'm tired of listening to the whining from the left and saying poor obama as opposed to he's had a stimulus bill, he's had a jobs bill. they haven't set the country back on course. so let's put the blame where it needs to be at the president's feet for his failed policies opposed to looking back and blaming george bush. >> most people don't agree with that, but let's look at this. democrats and republicans had limited primetime coverage on broadcast networks. on the final night of both conventions just as the numbers began their coverage, here's what the parties presented. at 10:02 last night, vice president joe biden was in a full lather. he often is. let's listen in. >> america is not in decline. i've got news for governor romney and congressman ryan. gentlemen, never ever -- it

never makes sense -- it's never been a good bet to bet against the american people. >> anyway, meanwhile the week before, here's what republicans were presenting to new york audiences at 10:04 on their big night. let's listen. >> i've got mr. obama sitting here. what? what do you want me to tell romney? i can't tell him to do that. can't do that to himself. you're crazy. you're absolutely crazy. >> you know, ron, i've always given credit to your party for competence at putting these shows on. you have the balloon drop where the balloons drop on time. you're good at this stuff. but this year, when you only had an hour of primetime tv on the networks nbc, cbs, and abc you

put on clint eastwood. the other guys put on the up up man for the president, joe biden. i think you lost some of your luster in this business. >> well, chris, i know it's going to make a lot of our republican friends unhappy with me, but i thought it was kind of strange seeing clint eastwood talking to an empty chair. i get the point, but the one hour you have the american people tuning in that aren't on the table networks and you're looking at an empty chair? i didn't see the humor in it. a lot of people did. i wouldn't have chosen that line of attack against the president. >> you know, joe, he apparently thought up of this shtick in the green room. to say could i have that chair please? >> i think even though obama seems to have gotten the big bounce today in the gallup approval, you can bet that romney is way up with people who yell at empty chairs.

i would say that's a demographic that they capture. >> you are cruel to our hero. i'm going to forgive my saying something later. this is probably the man's career going on hunches. this didn't work. let's talk about the crowd out there. this is always a ticklish point. but i was down in charlotte and there was a tremendous good feeling. you know that phrase you always here new south. it's better than it was. the race relations are much more mellow. i mean, i have -- i know it's tough to talk about it but i was impressed by the way people all got along down there. the excitement, they're shoulder to shoulder feeling. here we have the convention -- these were the more important people. not just the regular people, the delegates. but these delegates, they're a lot of positive feeling here and diversity in the best sense. it was wonderful because they wanted to be diverse. your thoughts, ron. is that something the republican party just isn't over yet and has to get over at some point or

what? >> well, i think one thing, it's a matter of ideology. if you look at african-american voters who voted for president obama last time around, that's a high percentage. i didn't see the kind of diversity i wanted to see in tampa. obviously there were a number of folks of color i saw at the convention, but we need to do better as a party. we need to go out not just at election time. we need to ask for the vote before election time. four years from now hopefully we'll have a more robust and diverse republican party. >> how many delegates of color were there at the republican convention down in tampa? do you have an estimate? >> it's hard for me to say, chris. i saw quite a few on the floor. the estimate i've heard is about 2.1%. but that's, again, something i've heard. i can't confirm that. >> in real numbers that's what? >> about 40 or 50. >> i think it's 21, actually. it's about 21, actually. i'm not holding it against ron.

ron has the nerve to join whatever political party he wants to join. but i have to tell you, positive feeling about america down there. gung ho people. the way they were treated in the south. how the south was democrat when they were being treated the worst. it's an interesting part of american history. ron knows more about it than i do. thanks for coming on. thank you joe conason, sorry for being tough but fair. coming up, there was one word joe biden loved saying last night. what word was it? literally. he loves saying the word literally. this is "hardball," the place for politics. i describe myself as a mother, a writer and a performer.

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week in tampa. >> a reasonable plan of $4 trillion of debt reduction in a decade. for every $2.5 trillion of cuts. >> not that the republicans did not have a plan to solve the nation's economic problems. >> we are going to solve this nation's economic problems. we need to stop spending money we don't have. we will lead. >> and as a last resort, we will use magic. >> back to "hardball." speaks of clinton's speech, you may have caught this picture of hillary clinton watching her husband make the address. she was in southeast asia. before watching, the secretary of state had this to say about the remarks. quote, i received the as-prepared version which i am anxious when i can to come pay with the as-delivered version. like this zinger for paul ryan who blasted president obama's medicare spending cuts even though ryan's own plan called

for the same amount in savings. >> it takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you didn't. >> and that was impromptu. let's get to the numbers. clinton's prepared remarks over 3,000 words. the as-delivered over 6,000. doubled the original word count. that guy is smart. moving on to one of last night's big speech event, did you notice joe biden getting literal with the use of one word in particular? >> governor romney believes it's okay to raise taxes on middle class teams in order to pay for another -- literally another trillion dollar tax cut for the amazes me they don't understand. general motors and chrysler were literally on the verge of liquidation. literally the first days -- literally hung in the balance -- literally -- literally --

direction we turn is literally in your hands. >> well, the direction of history is literally in our hands? he dropped that word ten times. the romney campaign pounced on that one. a promotional message from the obama campaign. osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive. they're moving fast. and even though this past week in charlotte has been chock-full of memorable moments, i doubt anyone forgot about the most bizarre moment from last week in tampa. of course it's clint eastwood talking to an empty chair. and before singing some of his recognizable songs, yesterday james taylor addressed any concerns about his own four legged prop. >> i know it's an empty chair, it makes you nervous, doesn't it? that's all right. i'm going to sit on it.

not going to talk to it. >> what a voice. people unfortunately are known by their best work. and with any luck, clint's date with that chair will be forgotten. his movies of course as classic as they are will be around forever. up next, after mitt romney failed to thank the troops last week, the democrats were sure to pay tribute to them in charlotte. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

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i'm milissa rehberger. here's what's happening. jesse jackson jr. has left the mayo clinic and is at home in washington. the congressman was treated for bipolar disorder. canada has shut its embassy in tehran. it accused iran of being the

most significant threat to world peace. and while in brunei, the secretary of state hillary clinton signed a report saying that pakistan's militant network meets the criteria for being dubbed a terrorist organization. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." for years the conventional wisdom was the republicans own the military and national security. democrats played defense on those issues. if you watch the two conventions this year, that conventional wisdom has been turned on its face. for the first time since 1952 a republican acceptance speech failed to mention war. while the democrats put up speaker after speaker to highlight the national security accomplishments. the president looked like a formidable commander in chief in a time of war when the opponents looked like the novices they

are. here's what the president said last night. >> my opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy. but from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost america so dearly. you don't call russia our number one enemy, not al qaeda, russia. unless you're still stuck in a cold war mind war. you might not be ready for diplomacy with beijing if you can't visit the olympics without insulting our closest ally. >> who would have thought it was the republicans playing defense now on the thought of national security. you know, years ago when it was okay to talk like this, i wrote a piece of the mommy and daddy party. how the democratic party is good

on health issues and education and taking care of parents and republicans is all about law and order and defense. keeping a gun under the bed. tough daddy and regular good mommy. but today the democrats have done a crossover. >> they've done a clever job especially on the third last day of their convention in rebranding the democratic party of the party of patriotism and the party of strength. and as we just saw, the republican party is a party of nai naivete, a party that doesn't know how to deal with foreign policy. they're doom criers. they don't trust america. they sell america short. >> why are they running two guys not only with no military background but no interest in foreign policy. neither of those candidates has any curiosity or interest in the world, as far as i can tell.

>> because this campaign was to be about jobs, jobs, jobs. >> one thing the neocons i despise, they love wars. they don't seem to realize there are troops, the people that come home. i think it was honestly put that some people are never healed. it's not a couple weeks in a military hospital. it's a life in and out of a military hospital or stuck there. >> going back decades, you had the wynnberger doctrine and powell doctrine. but for the first time we are focused and understanding the cost of war. bush was great at going to wa war. >> the human cost doesn't go away. >> what obama has done, he's made a real connection with the military and with veterans. you know, his line about romney being new to national security, but what hammered that home was the fact that he finished his

speech talking about a veteran who literally was able to recover. >> that's always good. last night senator john kerry led the attack on romney on foreign policy. chided the candidate for failing to mention the troops or afghanistan in his acceptance speech. never mentioned it. and never mentioned that people have to fight these wars and survive them. let's watch. >> no nominee for president should ever fail in the midst of a war to pay tribute to our troops overseas in his acceptance speech. mitt romney -- mitt romney was talking about america. they are on the front lines every day defending america, and they deserve our thanks. >> well, on fox news today romney was asked to respond to the democratic thought he failed to mention afghanistan or pay tribute to the people po who fight these wars, the troops.

let's listen. >> do you regret opening up this line of attack now a recurring attack by leaving out that issue in the speech? >> i regret you repeating it day in and day out. when you give a speech you don't go through a laundry list. you talk about the things that you think are important. i described in my speech my commitment to a strong military unlike the president's decision to cut our military. i didn't use the word troops. i used the word military. i think they refer to the same thing. >> i just love the way he corrects the reporter for asking the wrong question. that'll get him a long way. there's a big difference between talking about the troops and veterans as people and talking about military budgets and force levels as institutions. which is what romney did there. here's what he said about the military in his convention speech itself. let's watch. >> his trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs and also put our security at greater risk.

that america, that united america will preserve a military that's so strong no nation would ever dare to test it. >> i tell you, i don't get it sometimes. i think there's a real problem with that guy being president of the united states. just in terms of the persona he presents. he's not really human. your thought? >> well, he's pulled out the reagan playbook. but it's just not working 30 years later the way it did 30 years ago. he wants to add things back in without explaining. he wants 100,000 troops without explaining what they'll do. >> reagan -- give him credit here which i often do. he understood the importance of getting the salute right. to recognize he was commander in chief and he was connecting with the people fighting. >> that's right. but the difference is romney has talking points on a briefing book, but you saw last night the president has really connected with the military people. and in talking about veterans and jobs, the work of michelle

obama and jill biden, he's bridged this international and domestic divide in ways -- >> i think you're right. the idea of the first lady and dr. biden, the second lady if you will, making a point of almost like in a civil war setting. that women taking an interest in mostly guys are getting injured badly or killed. and being out there and addressing them as individuals that are important years after the battle. >> and that is what's so unpleasant, distasteful if you will, about romney's reply on fox. when he -- imagine you're a troop in afghanistan. you know, it's 110 degrees. you're walking around with a pack and a weapon. imagine you have a loved one who is. and you hear him or her referred to as a laundry list. that's a dehumanizing of what these people are doing. to romney it's just another issue. i don't need to deal with this issue in this speech.

it's not a laundry list. it's human beings. >> i like to think -- i remember this story of a super bowl game. i'm watching the pilots go over when they do it. they see the guy in the cockpit and it strikes you that we all should remember that at any moment right now no matter what the time of the day across the country, there are people on post in places like afghanistan who are scared to death. they're out is there in the dark, they don't know what that sound was they just heard. they're trying to do their job and not get killed. they do it all for us. >> and the difference is obama and biden have been there with the troops, romney and ryan have not. >> thank you. great to have you back here. stick around. up next, our "hardball" picks for the best convention moments. this is like candy. it was fun down there. "hardball," the place for politics. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great.

didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. dad, we want pizza. you guys said tacos. [ female announcer ] it doesn't always work out that way. you know what? we're spending too much money on eating out anyway. honey, come look at this. [ female announcer ] my money map from wells fargo is a free online tool that helps you track your spending. so instead of having to deal with a tight budget, you could have a tighter family. ♪ wells fargo. together we'll go far.

we're getting the first indications of a poll bounce for president obama coming out of charlotte. the gallup daily tracking poll which is a week-long average of voter opinions had been holding steady for a week with obama up one point over romney. today that edged up to a three-point lead. it's now 48-45 obama. the president's approval rating has also gone up. he's at 52% now which is so key. 43% still disapprove of him. and reuters poll came out with president obama ahead by two.

46-44. romney had been up by a point or two in that one all week. we'll be right back. i don't spend money on gasoline. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month.

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we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in. we're back. democrats are flying high after one of the greatest conventions i've seen. we're taking close look now at some of the best moments of this -- actually we're going to take a look on ron reagan. bunched right up on you ron. there you are. >> there i am. >> you watched this convention. let's watch the best points together. president obama had the crowd going wild last night when he reminded america who does sit in the oval office. >> i recognize that times have changed since i first spoke to this convention.

times have changed and so have i. i'm no longer just a candidate. i'm the president. >> that moment, i was surrounded by a lot of people including a lot of african-americans in that moment. i got to tell you. there was so much pride and so much defiance when he said that where a lot of people said enough of this delegitimization of this guy, and he said it, live with it. i'm president of the united states. >> thadz right. there was a sort of put up or shut up moment there, too, that was right around that time when he started talking about foreign policy, and mitt romney going over to england, for instance, and the mention of beijing and how are you going to negotiate with beijing when you can't even visit an olympics without insulting our greatest ally, the united kingdom, there. >> and he established this special relationship. he reestablished england as our best ally.

bill clinton was filled with great moments. he 30u7ded republicans with a pointed, substantive speech. >> they want to get back to the same old policies that got us into trouble in the first place. cut taxes for high income americans even more than president bush did. they want to get rid of the pesky financial regulations designed to prevent another crash. as another president once said, there they go again. >> did you like that, mr mr. reagan? >> yes, i liked that a lot. bill clinton does so many things for the obama/biden ticket there. he's a reminder of what happened the last time a democrat was in the white house financially, in terms of the health of the country. we did pretty well, and a reminder in contrast to the last time we had a republican in the white house where we went off a cliff. and he melds the substance with the sort of folksiness in a way

that few other politicians can do. there were more facts and figures in his speech than perhaps any oeft speech at either convention, and he ad-libbed half of it. >> he walks onto that stage with the confidence of a guy going down to the refrigerator to make himself a late night sandwich. he's so confident out there. michelle obama stole the show on tuesday night with a heartfelt story about her husband. i like this when she talked about the president's reaction at night when late at night near midnight, he would read the letters with very real problems. >> i see the concern in his eyes. and i hear the determination in his voice as he tells me, you won't believe what these folks are going through, michelle. it's not right. we've got to keep working to fix this. we've got so much more to do. >> i believe her. >> yeah, best speech by a first

lady i have ever seen. and you know, all due respect to my own mother and i haven't reviewed all of elnoeleanor roosevelt's remarks. she humanizes and warms up president obama. you can see her as she describes it, you can see him sitting at the desk, worrying about ordinary people. ann romney gave a nice talk about her own husband as well, but i got the feeling, and i don't want to knock ann romney, that was fine, but with barack and michelle obama when they're talking about their lives together, they did live the american dream. ann and mitt romney don't seem to appreciate the fact they had the american dream handed to them. >> either way, neither of these first lady nor the candidate for first lady can sing like your mom can. >> that's true. >> gabrielle giffords who survived an assassination attempt a year ago took the stage to recite the pledge of

allegian allegiance. what a moment. let's watch. we're watching. there it is, just a picture of it, that captures it pretty well. let's go on to some other things. i want you to look at a whole -- after we look at that for a moment. a powerful rallying cry, as we heard the other night. democratic leaders got off the bench for once, out in the playing field. the president's allies, his confederates and show they can be team members and fight for him and help him win this november. i was so taken with some of the speeches. they were so good out there in charlotte. let's watch some of them. >> sure. >> this is the president. who ended don't ask don't tell so love of country, not love of another, determines fitness for service. >> barack obama has also lived up to his responsibilities as commander in chief. ending the war in iraq, refocusing on afghanistan, and eradicating terrorist leaders including bin laden. >> where mitt romney was willing

to turn his back on akron, dayton, and toledo ohio, the president said i've got your back. >> seven president before him, republicans and democrats, tried to expand health care to all americans. president obama got it done. >> this is what i wanted to see for months now. real confederates in the field, great speakers, strong cases for the president. >> we have been having these conversations since the 2000 election cycle. i said the same thing, the democratvise to take the gloves off and put the wood to the republicans. go after them, and they did it this time finally. >> great to have you on. have a nice weekend. when we return, let me finish with a trio of good things i noticed in sharl lt. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. y. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ]

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let me finish tonight with this. obviously, my main interest in the convention just held in charlotte is political. i noticed a trio of good things down there. first and foremost, a good number of politicians speaking up for the president. my favorite examples were deval patrick and john kerry, both of massachusetts, and both were excellent. they delivered barn burners for the president. he should have them burning with speeches from here to november. they should be swarming the country with the good word of obama. second, i heard the president make clear that he, not the other guy, is president. mitt romney has been counted on oba